Evaluation

EVALUATION

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products? My media products use forms and conventions of real media products, as I have included media techniques and elements to create my products. Before setting out I decided to research the conventions of a teaser trailer, by doing this I was able to gain a deeper understanding of what a teaser trailer was. I found out that teaser trailers where released before the film to tease the audience, also that teaser trailers where shorter than usual trailers. The minimum amount of footage presented in a teaser allowed the audience to develop an idea of the film and to establish the genre. Teasers promote and advertise a film, in doing this they are supposed to cause excitement from the audience which determines the success of the film. This is also followed by the release of the poster and advertisement in a magazine.

After this I decided to look at the basic conventions of a Horror teaser trailer. What I learned was that the use of suspense was very important because this would lead to building up tension, which would then make the audience feel off edge and scared. The plot usually gave little away, however the through the imagery, music and editing elements of darkness were presented to entice the audience.

In order to construct my product I chose to look at three horror teaser trailers which were Woman in Black, Scream and One Hour Photo. By analysing these would allow me to develop an idea. From the research I found out that from Horror teaser trailers the story would start at a slow pace and then build up creating suspense and tension, this allowed the audience to come with an idea of what they thought the story was about.

I followed the conventions by using a range of camera shots to illustrate the emotion and the relationship between the characters. I used P.O.V shot to evoke feeling of shock because I wanted the audience to feel like they were apart of the scene by seeing themselves as killers. Also I used medium shots and close ups etc.

I used a software called Soundtrack pro to create sounds for my product I also used a website called Incomptech which allowed me to search for music within the genre of horror. I challenged the form and conventions by not including diegetic sound because I felt that it would be a distraction. The music suits the genre and expresses the actions and thoughts of the characters, also the music builds up as the story unfolds which builds up suspense. It was important that the music was effective because there was no dialogue for the audience to relate to.

Key props that are usually used in horror films are weapons that are likely to endanger someone, however I challenged that convention by not using any weapons for example a knife. Rather I used a verse from the Bible which says “You shall not kill” the audience will automatically read, that the character is probably thinking of killing or has killed. This causes confusion and that was my aim.

The lighting often seen in horror movies are low key lighting. In my product I wanted the lighting to create a mysterious atmosphere, so I challenged the convention by setting my film at daytime instead of night time. However parts of the scenes have areas of low lighting making it dark and mysterious. My aim was to put forward that it doesn’t have to be night time for something bad to happen.

In terms of location I learned that from my research that the locations shown in horrors are usually set in isolated places or a house. I didn’t want to stray from that convention so made sure that all the bad events would occur in the scene at the house. The main character is wearing dark colours which represent her as being evil. The audience can identify that she is a dangerous person. The victim is dressed in normal clothing, so she cannot labelled.

The lighting often seen in horror movies are low key lighting. In my product I wanted the lighting to create a mysterious atmosphere, so I challenged the convention by setting my film at daytime instead of night time. However parts of the scenes have areas of low lighting making it dark and mysterious. My aim was to put forward that it doesn’t have to be night time for something bad to happen.

In terms of location I learned that from my research that the locations shown in horrors are usually set in isolated places or a house. I didn’t want to stray from that convention so made sure that all the bad events would occur in the scene at the house.

The main character is wearing dark colours which represent her as being evil. The audience can identify that she is a dangerous person. The victim is dressed in normal clothing, so she cannot

labelled.

I edited my product using a software called Final cut pro on an Apple mac. I acknowledged the fact that the basic convention of a teaser trailer is to tease the audience with short but interesting shots. So baring that in mind I made sure that none of my clips were long so it wouldn’t bore the audience. I made changes to the speed in some scenes, I added some transitions such as fades and dissolves. I used the Cooltext generator to make my title and the style connected to genre very well.

For my poster I made sure that I would follow the forms and conventions of a real media product. The image I chose for my poster was vital because this had to link to the teaser trailer. I was inspired by the poster I analysed called ‘The Rite’.

The photos for the poster meant a great deal for me. After filming I took it upon myself to take a range of photos using a digital camera. All the photos I took were close ups just at different angles. The photo I chose came from the influence of ‘The rite’ which was a poster I analysed, I liked the fact that the close up of his face allowed me to identify the sort of character he was. So in doing my poster I made sure that I would potray that through my photo. After selecting the picture I wanted to use I then edited it with a program called photoshop, I changed the colour to black by muting out the background to black and I made her face warmer but still came acrous as dark as it contrast with the black background .to make look like a dark charcter

My magazine follows the forms and convention of a real media products. I researched film magazines using Google. I chose to analyse Total Film, Empire and Sight and Sound I chose these three because they all had different approaches. After analysing all three of the magazines I decided to follow the conventions of sight and sound.

I was intrigued by the fact that sight sound had the very sense of simplicity but still had highlights of horror through the use of colour. and I was inspired to transform this into my product.

My magazine compared to a real media product

Masthead

Main cover lines

Taglines

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The correlation between my teaser trailer, poster and magazine is clear. By watching my teaser trailer the audience will be aware that there are religious aspects in the narrative. My magazine connects with my point closely, the image is a close up of the main character called Carlen, she has a cross in her hand and a cross on her face. This links to the bible in my teaser trailer. The poster links with the teaser trailer and the magazine because the image on the poster and magazine are both close ups, her eyes are consistent through both of those products, her eyes also reflect a shot towards the end of the teaser trailer.

The style of my title on my poster stands out, I wanted the title to establish the genre so instead the colour red I used grey. The audience are able to establish the genre by looking at the title. I approached my film magazine differently. The title on the magazine is white and is not the main focus, however I drew attention to the tagline “murder” this was large and red. The colour scheme of my film magazine establishes that the genre of my teaser is a horror because I have used black and red colour scheme.

I used black red and white to stick with the colour scheme of horror conventions in my film magazine. The picture was important because there had to be a correlation to the poster and the film. I chose this picture because I felt that the audience would be able to recognize the link because she has crosses in her face and she has a bible in the shot

( 4 for the image I darkened her face because I didn’t want to take away the dark

effect I wanted to paint her as a vile sinister person however I didn’t entirely mute out the background. Talk about the poster image and film magazine image

These are all my products the main character is highlighted as the focus.

Screen shots

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Once completing my ancillary task I conducted a focus group survey. I shared my ideas for my teaser trailer with my focus group, there I was able to gather thoughts of what they liked and did not like. I was able to discuss my overall ideas and my focus group were pleased with the results of my film magazine and poster. Prior to that I showed my focus group ‘Scream’ this is what influenced my ideas.

They liked the fact that there were different stories told which created a sense of mystery, also that the text guided them through the narrative. Their feedback enabled me to incorporate their ideas into my product. For example I decided to present text on a black background.

After completing my media product I conducted some questions from selected viewers, I played my teaser trailer before handing them the questions. The questions asked were:

• Do you think the Magazine, Poster and teaser trailer • Can you spot the links between the poster magazine and teaser

trailer • What are the advantages and disadvantages of the poster,

magazine and teaser trailer • Do you think the poster, magazine and teaser trailer would

make an effective campaign for advertising a film

These are the answers They enjoyed the poster magazine and teaser trailer.

What I learned from the feedback is that all my products interlinked, they could identify the connection to the narrative and the genre. I was pleased to hear this because this is something I aimed to do, I did not

want to break the connection of three of my products.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I entirely depended on media technologies during the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages. For research and planning I used the internet to surf search engines like Google and a video sharing website called YouTube. This benefited me a lot because I was able to conduct research on teaser trailers, Horror teaser trailers, film magazine covers and posters. Google allowed me to search for professional film posters that related to my genre, I then could screenshot what I wanted onto a word document. I used YouTube to search for professional teaser trailers, after finding the teaser trailers that were of the genre I chose I could then start my analysis and take screen shots.I used Slideshare which is an online slide hosting website, to present my work. I was experiencing problems with posting my poster analysis onto Wordpress, so I decided to use Slideshare which solved my problems. Wordpress was where I presented all my work, I created my own page and uploaded material onto the blog. I was able to store and upload pictures securely on my blog space which saved me time from uploading pictures over and over again.Microsoft word, PowerPoint and excel were very convenient, with these programs I was able to produce graphs for my target research, set out information and make presentations.

Throughout the filming process i used equipment such as a tripod and camcorder. I followed the shots I set out on my storyboard, however I did film a range of shots from different angles so that I would have a variety to work with. I did not struggle with filming any of the shots because I already had these skills from my AS project. After I finished filming I had to import my recording into Final cut pro, this would then allow me edit. My recording was up 25 minutes so it took a while to import. Final cut pro is software that is available on Apple Mac. I used the razor tool to cut shots, I included transitions, fades, I changed the speed for various scenes and for a flashback in the narrative. I did not struggle using Final cut pro because I had used it in my AS media project.

I used Soundtrack pro to search for music relating to the genre horror, after choosing the piece I desired I exported, then imported it into final cut pro.

I created my magazine and film poster using Photoshop on Apple Mac. Without having previous experience with this software I struggled, however I used tutorials from YouTube to help me achieve what I wanted to do. I was able to several things like adjust the brightness and sharpen the picture etc. By using Photoshop I have learned new skills and I believe that these skills will help me in the future also I will be able to develop new skills.

Overall I am pleased with all my products, using by Apple software I have learned new skills from this task and developed previous skills from my AS task. All that I have done will help me in the future.